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Monday, September 9, 2013

POPLARVILLE - Concert-goers will hear a variety of well-known music when the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra presents the grand-opening concert in the Ethel Holden Brownstone Center for the Arts at Pearl River Community College. The symphony will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24, following a brief ribbon-cutting ceremony on stage. The first segment of the program will include a tribute to the music of Irvin Berlin, highlights from Les Miserables and the theme from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Following intermission, the symphony will play selections from Jesus Christ Superstar, three love themes from James Bond movies and a medley of Beatles favorites by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra is the state’s premier orchestral organization,” said Archie Rawls, Brownstone Center director and chair of the PRCC Department of Fine Arts and Communication. “This program of light classical and popular music is sure to please the audience. Pearl River Community College is delighted to present this concert in our beautiful new arts center.” Conductor Crafton Beck is starting his 11th season with the symphony and is well-known as the arranger of more than 80 musical selections. He holds a doctorate in conducting from Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and studied at the University of Michigan, Ohio State University and the Aspen School. Beck’s arrangements have been performed and/or recorded by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Pianist Shawn Leopard will be featured soloist on Themes from Exodus. She holds degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi and Indiana University. She currently teaches and performs in Jackson where she is associated with the symphony and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral. Tickets for the concert are $15 and are available by calling 601-403-1180, online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by mail at Pearl River Community College, Brownstone Center for the Arts, 101 Highway 11 North, Poplarville, MS 39470. The Mississippi Arts Commission provided a grant to help make the symphony concert possible. Sponsors for the Brownstone Center 2013-14 Inaugural Season include Hattiesburg Coca-Cola (Presidential Sponsor), Griffin Architecture and BankPlus (Chairman’s Sponsors) and Martin T. and Dolores Smith (Patron Sponsors).